Saturday Breakfast Serial 021 – Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. (1941) Chapter 10: Flaming Peril

Okay, gang, it’s Saturday again, and time for another installment of Saturday Breakfast Serial and our ongoing chapter play, Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. And, for those of you who may be just joining us, here are the previous posts for this serial: 1, 2, 3, 4,  5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Last week we finished up our look at the serial film history of Republic Pictures, focusing on some of the features that distinguished their serials from those of their rivals. Today we’re going to begin a look at one of those competitors: Columbia Pictures.

Columbia Pictures actually began its life as CBC Film Sales corporation in 1918, and was named after its founders, brothers Harry and Jack Cohn, and Joe Brandt. In 1924, Brandt sold his stake in the company to Harry Cohn, and the brothers renamed the studio Columbia Pictures Corporation, partly in an attempt to shake off CBC’s reputation as a truly low-budget studio.

Because they couldn’t afford at the time to produce their own serials, the first serial to appear under the Columbia Pictures logo was Jungle Menace, which was actually produced by Louis Weiss in 1937. The Weiss brothers, Louis, Adolph, and Max had actually begun independently producing low budget movies in 1920, under a variety of names such as Superior Talking Films, Stage and Screen Productions, Artcraft Productions, Exploitation Pictures, Consolidated Pictures, and International Pictures Corporation.

Jungle Menace was created in the wake of the success of Republic Pictures’s 1936 serial Darkest Africa, which had starred real-life animal trainer Clyde Beatty. For their serial, Columbia hired animal collector Frank “Bring ‘Em Back Alive” Buck. The serial was set in the fictional land of Seemang in Asia, and Buck played the role of Frank Hardy, a soldier of fortune who intervenes in and investigates attempts to run a rubber plantation owner and his daughter off their land. Here’s a description of the filming of one of the scenes of Jungle Menace from the autobiography of director Harry L Fraser:

The snake was in no hurry. Slowly he slithered across the girl’s body, while she screamed and struggled. He turned, looking for a spot to slip under her to make his first wrap. I motioned to the reptile crew to get ready, and a split-second later gave them the signal to move in. But now, the maddened snake fought them and did its best to coil around one of the men. Before that happened, however, I had cut, and we had a good cliff-hanger with our terror-stricken heroine to close the episode.

Here’s how the resolution of that particular cliffhanger played out in the actual serial:

Jungle Menace turned out to be such a success for Columbia that they were immediately considered rightful competitors in the serial field with the other major players, Republic and Universal.

Ok, time to get on with this week’s chapter of  Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. Here’s chapter 10, Flaming Peril:

Next time: Chapter 11: Seconds To Live, and we’ll take a look at more Columbia Pictures serials.

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Classic Television Thursday #028 – Mork and Mindy (1978-1982)

I’d originally planned to feature an episode of The Outer Limits this week, but that’s going to have to wait until next time, as we instead turn our focus to a more recent classic show.

Here’s what happened: A couple of days ago, while I was talking to my fourteen year old daughter, I made a reference to “Mork from Ork” which was met with nothing but a quizzical look. That’s when I realized that she had no idea what I was talking about. She had, to that point, never even heard of Mork & Mindy.

And of course, there was no reason that she would. After all, we’re talking about a show that ended its run more than 30 years ago, and even though it was a hit back in the day, and even though it did star Robin Williams, it doesn’t get much play or talk nowadays. Even when Williams passed away last year, it was only a footnote in most of his obituaries.

At the same time, we’re talking about a girl who has watched the entire runs of shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Friends, along with a bunch of other classic sitcoms, so it’s not like she has any aversion to them. It was just something that she’d not ever run across. Plus, it really had never occurred to me to introduce it to her.

So at that point I immediately turned to YouTube to see if I could find a clip or two to give her an idea of what the show was like and the charm and zaniness that Robin brought to it. Amazingly, I found much more than that. There were actually playlists that contain what appear to be complete runs of all four seasons!

Unfortunately at that point we were pressed for time, so we only got to watch a short part of the pilot episode, but it was enough, I think, to assure that she (and I, for that matter, since I don’t think I’ve watched the show since it was first on) will be back to pick up where we left off and to go on through the rest from there.

So if you, like my daughter, don’t know the show, or if you’re closer to my age and have fond memories of it, well, here’s your chance to catch up with it. I’m not going to post the playlists here, since they’re very easy to find, but I will give you the pilot episodes below so you, too, can check out this definite classic sitcom.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Not Just Another Middle Child – Quickie Review: Insurgent (2015)

It would be easy to simply write Insurgent off as simply another “middle picture” in a movie trilogy, and there is some of that feeling to it. You know what I mean. In most movie trilogies, the first picture is there to set things up, give you the lay of the land, introduce the main characters, etc. Then the second movie comes along, and it’s function is to hopefully expand a bit on everything that has gone before while getting everything in place for the third movie (or, just as likely today when the final movie is split into two so that the studio can reap double benefits – see, for example, The Hobbit, the third/fourth movie) which will provide the final, “epic” ending.

It would be easy to do that, but in the case of Insurgent, it would be doing the movie a disservice to simply dismiss it in that way.

Of course, I’m obviously not part of the target audience for a movie like this, and if it weren’t for my fourteen year old daughter, I probably would never have bothered going to see the first movie in this series, Divergent, at all. That being said. I found myself enjoying the first installment well enough that I was certainly willing to accompany her to Insurgent. One of the things that I liked about the first movie was that there were a number of places where I expected the movie to end on more of a cliffhanger type note, but rather than do that, it told a pretty complete story in itself while certainly leaving enough unanswered questions and a feeling that there was certainly more of the story to be told that it was definitely a satisfying view, and that is also the case here. While, yes, Insurgent definitely sets up the rather obvious next step in the plotline it at the same time completes the section of the story that was necessary for these characters to move to that next level without simply ending on a cliffhanger or leaving the viewer feeling like they’ve only seen a part of a movie, and I have to applaud those in charge of adapting this series for that.

So basically, yes, this is to a large extent, a “more of the same” movie insofar as if you enjoyed the first movie, you should enjoy this one also. How would it work as a stand alone experience? Well, I can’t speak directly to that, but my feeling is definitely that while it would probably work, there is quite a bit of assumed knowledge that would leave someone who hasn’t seen Divergent playing quite a game of catch up as far as the characters and their inter-relationships.

The bottom line then: If you’ve seen the first movie, and enjoyed it, then yes, I’d recommend this as a very adequate and satsfying follow-up. If you haven’t, then I would recommend seeking out and watching Divergent first, and then deciding if you’re interested in following the adventures of these characters any further.

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Saturday Breakfast Serial 020 – Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. (1941) Chapter 9: Beheaded

Okay, gang, it’s Saturday again, and time for another installment of Saturday Breakfast Serial and our ongoing chapter play, Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. And, for those of you who may be just joining us, here are the previous posts for this serial: 1, 2, 3, 4,  5, 6, 7, 8.

Last week we finished up our look at the history of Republic Pictures, at least as far as the serial era went, but, just as the feature length films of the studio era had distinguishing features and styles that differentiated them from those coming from their rivals, the same was true with the serials that they produced, so  I thought it might be interesting this week to take a look at just what made a Republic serial stand out from those coming from other studios.

Since one of the foundations of Republic was Mascot Pictures, a studio already devoted to the making of serials, it should probably come as no surprise that the serial division was considered one of the major parts of the studio’s inner workings, and therefore generally received more funding and respect than was true of its rivals. This respect for the division translated very well to the screen, especially in terms of the special effects that were used, not just during the cliffhanger scenes, but throughout the episodes. When you see an explosion or a flooded tunnel or whatever in a Republic serial, the effects work just seems that touch more realistic, and therefore more threatening. This larger special effects budget also was brought to bear on some of the more fantastical effects, such as the flying scenes featured in their superhero serials.

Republic was also the first studio to really choreograph the fights within its serial. Instead of the director simply telling the actor “Okay, you two go at it for a couple of minutes”, Republic serials would bring in stuntmen who knew more about what they were doing and how to plan out and better stage a fight sequence. These guys also were not afraid to use the other material on the set to either throw at each other or hit each other with, which again brought a greater sense of realism to their serials and heightened the action.

The extra money that Republic was willing to spend upon its serials was not only seen on the screen, however, but was also a factor in the plotting and writing of their serials, where they had a full team of writers – sometimes as many as seven people – working on the scripts.

There’s also one other feature that an eagle-eyed viewer might note that makes a Republic Serial easily identifiable and distinguishable from those of its competitors: the presence of either (or both) a Packard limousine or a Ford Woodie station wagon which constantly and consistently appeared in their serials. Why? Because by consistently using these cars, it made it easier for Republic to integrate and reuse already shot footage – especially in chase scenes.

And with that, I think it’s time to get on with Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. Here’s chapter 9.

Next time: Chapter 10: Flaming Peril, and we’ll shift our focus from Republic Pictures to one of its main rivals, Columbia .

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The Green, Green Grass of Sexual Frustration – A Quickie Review of Splendor In The Grass (1961)

Okay, I admit it, like most teenagers I went through my share of angst and sexual frustration, but damn, have these kids got it bad.

Wait, did I say teenagers? Yeah, I did. And honestly, that’s one of this movie’s biggest problems. At the time this movie was made, both Warren Beatty (making his film debut here) and Natalie Wood were in their late 20s. And while I know it’s traditional to cast older actors as teenagers, the entire cast of this movie is simply too old to in any way resemble teenagers, and Wood especially just looks silly when she’s overky cheefully bouncing up and down every time she greets her girlfriends.

Maybe it was the desire to hire actors who director Elia Kazan felt could carry the emotional weight of the story he wanted to tell. Perhaps it was, as is often the case, simply the desire to avoid having to make the necessary concessions that come along with hiring more age-appropriate actors. I don’t know. What I do know is that, despite the strength of their performance, the fact that neither of the leads could shed the maturity of both their age and skill really undercuts any sense that these characters belong in a high school classroom, or that they should be wearing their hearts so vividly upon their sleeves.

Maybe that’s the reason this supposed tearjerker left me far from moved by the plight of its main characters? Perhaps. Or perhaps it’s simply that the entire endeavor seems overwrought and that the emotions and motivations of Beatty’s Bud Stamper and Wood’s “Deanie” Loomis veer so strongly from scene to scene that it’s really hard to figure out not only where they actually are emotionally, but to really buy into their frustrated love plights.

Taking just one example, when we’re first introduced to the couple, they’re making out in Bud’s car, and we have Deanie telling Bud “No, stop, we mustn’t, we mustn’t”, which is met with utter frustration by a car-door-slamming Bud. Not long after, in a scene that remains rather shocking, and I suspect was even moreso back in 1961, We see Bud forcing Deanie to her knees into a position that seems one zipper away from him forcing her to… well, I suspect you get the idea. Though Bud eventually backs off from this, the scene ends with Deanie telling Bud she really will do anything he wants her to, because she loves him so much.

And so it goes, back and forth, back and forth, and maybe all of this “I will, I won’t” type thing is supposed to mirror the over-the-top rampaging hormones of the teenage years, and it certainly isn’t helped by Deanie’s mother who keeps telling her that good girls don’t let boys touch them, much less have sex with them, nor by Bud’s father, who encourages him to – if he’s that frustrated by Deanie’s continuous refutations – find a “different kind of girl” to sow his wild oats with.

By the way, I should take this moment to note that though I was somewhat less than impressed by both Beatty and Wood in this, since they really overact a lot of their scenes, with Beatty in particular not just chewing the scenery, but seeming to look around for even more to chomp upon every chance he gets, I did enjoy seeing Pat Hingle in the cast as Bud’s mostly single minded oil-baron father. Not that is performance is any more restrained than anyone else in the film, but at least he does seem to understand that his role is ridiculously over the top, something the younger stars never quite seem to grasp.

The film does deserve credit for (spoiler warning, I suppose) not giving it’s characters a “they lived happily ever after” ending, which is rather satisfying, but, though the film, like it’s stars is always quite beautiful, it never seems to know just what it wants, nor how to properly express itself.

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Classic Television Thursday #027 – Have Gun Will Travel (1957-1963)

Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man.
A knight without armor in a savage land.
His fast gun for hire heed’s the calling wind.
A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin.
Paladin, Paladin Where do you roam?
Paladin, Paladin, Far, far from home.
He travels on to wherever he must;
A chess knight of silver is his badge of trust.
There are campfire legends that the plainsmen spin
Of the man with the gun,
of the man called Pa-l-l-l-l-a-din

Ah, for a return to actual theme songs for TV shows. I mean, really, what more do you need to know going into this show than what’s contained in that song?

Well, for those who are unfamiliar with Have Gun Will Travel, I’ll give you just a bit more. The character of Paladin was played by Richard Boone in a role that became iconic for the actor. It premiered on Sept. 14, 1957, and lasted until April 20, 1963, airing an impressive total of 225 episodes during that period. This was, of course, a time when, much as police and forensics procedural do now, westerns ruled the airwaves, and consistently ranked either 3rd or 4th in the ratings race, usually behind only Gunsmoke and Wagon Train.

It’s also one of the few shows that, as opposed to the usual direction of things, where a show that had first become popular on the radio spawned a television show when that medium became prevalent, had a radio show developed from it for that audience.

As far as how Paladin became the traveling gunslinger, well to find that out, all you need do is watch the pilot episode, which I’ve posted below.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paranoia Can Be Quite Invasive – A Quickie Review of 1978’s Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

I feel as though I should start this with a bit of full disclosure. I am a huge fan of the 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It’s one that has ranked extremely high on my personal all-time favorites list ever since I first saw it back when I was a teenager. So I’ve always had a bit of a snobbish attitude towards this remake. It’s one that I’ve always been rather dismissive of in that too easy to adopt “There’s no way the remake could be anywhere near as good as the original” way that, while not inevitable, certainly comes as part of the baggage anytime one approaches a remake of one of one’s favorite movies. As a matter of fact, I’m fairly sure that this was not a first time view of this version. I know I’ve at least watched parts of it before, but this time around I decided I’d try to view it completely separately, and try to judge it on its own merits. Was I successful? Well, I don’t think there’s any way I could completely dismiss my previous experience with the title, but let’s just say I did my best.

So how did this version of Invasion come out? Pretty darned well, actually.

Of course, I’ve long been a fan of both Mr. Nimoy and his lead in this, Donald Sutherland, and with Jeff Goldblum along for the ride, well, I figured at least I wouldn’t be bored. What I didn’t expect was a movie that actually managed to update the themes of the original, while at the same time expanding upon them and bringing in just the right amount of late 70s paranoia, along with using the newer special effects techniques available at the time to give the movie a fresh gloss without it feeling overblown or simply an exercise in “See how much better we can do this now?’.

Actually, I realized fairly quickly, that though I certainly could have continued my attempt to “forget” the ’56 version while watching this, that didn’t necessarily fit with the creator’s intent. As a matter of fact, in many ways, this version could be considered as much a sequel to the original as a remake. First, there is the early-on appearance by the star of the ’56 version, Kevin McCarthy, reprising his role from the earlier take, thus directly connecting the two. Also, since this Invasion is taking place in the much larger city of San Francisco, it’s easy to see it as an expansion upon the other – kind of a “what happens next” as the action – along with the pods – moves from the smaller, more encapsulated town of Santa Mira to the big city. Yet at the same time, those little bits of allusion, along with a few other points, don’t really require one to have seen the earlier version, as this film stands very well on its own as a nicely paced sci-fi thriller.

Overall, I found this a very entertaining watch, and while I don’t see any way that this version will ever take the place of the original in my heart, I can easily see why it has been so solidly embraced, and why, especially for those who are younger or who encounter this one first, it would be their Invasion of choice.

My recommendation? Watch them both. Enjoy them both. And whichever way your own tastes fall after having done so, just remember: Don’t fall asleep. Plus, you might just want to keep an eye on that guy or gal next to you. After all, they may not turn out to be quite what they seem.

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Quickie Review: The French Connection (1971)

It really is all about the chase.

Really.

It’s certainly not about the plot. If that were the case, The French Connection would qualify as a 30 minute short film.

Nor is it about the acting. Even though stars Gene Hackman (who won the Best Actor Oscar for the film) and Roy Scheider (who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor) turn in their usual stellar performances. (And maybe that’s part of the problem. I expect them to be this good, so their work in this film doesn’t particularly stand out as anything better than what we usually get from them.)

So why did this film receive The Best Picture Award (becoming the first R-Rated movie to do so after the introduction of the MPAA’s film rating system), and director William Friedkin win Best Director, and why did it also garner Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing? Why is it consistently hailed as one of the all-time great crime dramas?

It’s all about the chase.

Of course, the funny thing is that as pivotal as that grand car vs elevated train chase sequence is, it didn’t even go as planned, since there weren’t actually supposed to be any crashes.

Nonetheless, yeah, it’s all about the chase.

And that ain’t a bad thing at all.

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Saturday Breakfast Serial 019 – Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. (1941) Chapter 8: Train Of Doom

Okay, gang, it’s Saturday again, and time for another installment of Saturday Breakfast Serial and our ongoing chapter play, Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. And, for those of you who may be just joining us, here are the previous posts for this serial: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6, 7.

It’s time, I think, to wrap up our look at the history of the prolific serial producer Republic Pictures.

As is typical for a number of the smaller studios, the downfall of Republic can largely be attributed to one word: television. However, one of the things that differentiates them from some of those studios is that Republic actually at first attempted to embrace the new medium, seeing its potential, and in 1951 created a subsidiary arm, Hollywood Television Service which was tasked with repackaging and selling screening rights to its vintage westerns and action thrillers. HTS also took many of these films, especially the westerns, and edited them to fit in a one-hour television slot. At the same time, Hollywood Television Service also produced television shows filmed in the same style as Republic’s serials, such as The Adventures of Fu Manchu (1956).

During this time, Republic also paired with MCA to produce new movies and television shows, a move which allowed them to stay afloat financially for another few years, though by the mid 50s the writing was definitely on the wall. In 1957, the studio’s output dwindled to a mere 18 features, and the next year Republic’s founder and president, Herbert J. Yates informed the company’s stockholders that feature film production was ending, and the company’s distribution offices closed the following year. Finally, in 1959, Victor M. Carter, a Los Angeles businessman and turn-around specialist, acquired controlling interest in Republic, becoming its president. Carter did manage to keep Republic around, mostly by building it into a diversified business which included plastics and appliances in addition to its film and studio rentals and Consolidated Film Industries, and he renamed the resulting  company Republic Corporations. Not long after, Republic began leasing its backlot to other firms, including CBS in 1963, and in 1967 Republic’s studio was purchased outright by CBS.

Today the studio lot is known as CBS Studio Center.

Okay, time to move on. Here’s the next chapter of our ongoing serial, Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc.

Next time: Chapter 9: Beheaded, and more serial history.

Quickie Reviews: The Haunted Strangler (1958) and Corridors Of Blood (1959)

Since I’d already watched and written about two of the movies in Criterion’s Monsters and Madmen box set (The Atomic Submarine and First Man Into Space), I figured I’d go ahead and check out the other two, The Haunted Strangler and Corridors of Blood. The fact that both movies starred Boris Karloff as the eponymous madman made this an even easier decision.

One of the first things that struck me when watching these movies is that as opposed to the usual mad scientist who is simply conducting his experiments for purely personal reasons or for no real reason at all, in both of these films, Karloff portrays a man who is motivated by a greater good. In Blood, he is attempting to relieve the pain and suffering that his patients have to undergo anytime surgery is involved by developing a general anesthetic. In Strangler, he is attempting to prove that a man who was hanged for murder twenty years before was actually innocent. (The protagonist that Karloff portrays is actually an author for whom reopening and investigating this type of case is a sideline at which he has been successful in the past.)

Also, these are both movies where the “madness” results from obsession taken to the extreme, and in both of them, it is also the result as much of outside forces as the internal quirks of Karloff’s characters.

In the end, I found both of these to be excellent examples of this particular late-50s genre, and would highly recommend either or both of them to terror fans. Of the two, The Haunted Strangler, with its suggestion that its protagonist may actually be possessed by the spirit of the original serial killer and its Jekyll and Hyde undertones is perhaps the more conventional “horror movie”, but I have to say that watching them back to back I preferred Corridors of Blood, though I can also see where some might consider the latter to be a bit too much on the moralistic or “preachy” side, considering the fact that Karloff’s character is a very well-off doctor who is even more strongly motivated by seeing the results of his surgical procedures on the lower classes, and is at the same time being blackmailed into many of the acts that he performs.

Finally, let me add just a bit of wrap-up here. When I first began watching the movies in this box, I wondered just why Criterion, which generally is more well known for producing high-end disks of “classier” fare such as foreign films or “art house” movies chose to include these films as a part of its collection. Having now watched them, though of course I cannot speak for the company itself, what I can say is that I am glad that they did, as I found all four of them excellent examples of the kind of genre fare that was being produced at the time, highly entertaining, and overall definitely worth viewing especially by those who are genre fans. They are also ones that I would recommend to those who are not, but are simply looking for something relatively light and entertaining and are open to this kind of pulpy B-movie fun as a good way to pass an hour and a half or so of an evening, and perhaps that’s motivation enough.

Here are trailers for both movies:

Oh, and here are links to my reviews of the other two movies in this set, The Atomic Submarine and First Man Into Space.

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